Related

VANCOUVER -- The new general director of the Vancouver Opera said she is going to do her best to convince people of the benefits of the festival format the cultural organization plans to switch to next year.

Kim Gaynor said she plans to be part of a team that puts together a festival “so exciting” in 2017 that it will help win over opera fans who are critical of the new format.

“People will have to think about whether they want to change their habits and come and experience something new,” she said. “Some will, some maybe won’t. We’ll sure do our darndest to convince them it’s a good idea.”

Vancouver Opera is changing from its traditional programming of staging three large and one small production a year to two large and two small productions. The new format includes staging three of the four works in a three-week period in the spring. The inaugural VO festival opens with Otello on April 27, 2017.

Gaynor is the managing director of the Verbier Festival, a classical music festival in the mountain town of Verbier in the Swiss Alps. When the Verbier Festival ends in August, she will relocate to Vancouver.

Gaynor becomes the first woman to head Vancouver Opera since it was founded in 1960. She replaces James Wright, who is retiring after 17 years.

With her appointment, women now hold senior leadership positions in several of the city’s major cultural organizations. They include Kathleen S. Bartels, director of the Vancouver Art Gallery, Kelly Tweeddale, president of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, and Emily Molnar, artistic director of Ballet BC.

“Wow,” a surprised Gaynor said about being told she was the first woman to lead VO.

Gaynor said by phone from Vevey, Switzerland that being a woman never came up before with Vancouver Opera.

“What can I say? It’s often been true that the jobs I have had have been previously done by men,” she said.

“I do think women and men manage things in, perhaps, a slightly different way. I can only speak for the way that I feel I lead people — I don’t know if that’s masculine or feminine.”

The Verbier Festival runs for 17 days in July and August. Gaynor described it as a “very intense” festival with a daily schedule of four or five paying concerts in different venues and about 20 free activities.

Focusing more on young artists is one of the ideas she plans to take from Verbier and try in Vancouver.

“Audiences love to watch young artists and how they develop over a period of time,” she said. “You can start a project at the beginning of the festival and encourage people to follow it and see it at the end. That’s definitely something I intend to explore with Vancouver Opera.”

She is also interested in looking at whether VO can create family programming in the fall similar to what ballet companies do every year with The Nutcracker.

“I call this the Nutcracker Ballet model,” she said. “Ballet companies around the world have benefited form Nutcrackers before Christmas as family specials outside regular season for many years. This is an interesting model for an opera company to explore as well.”

Gaynor has been managing director at Verbier for 10 years. Gaynor’s previous positions in cultural organizations have included working as the managing director and co-founder of Festival Retz, a chamber music and opera festival in Austria; administrative director of Les Grand Ballets Canadiens in Montreal; and touring officer with the Canada Council, which involved travelling throughout the country, including B.C.

Born in Hamilton, Gaynor is bilingual in English and French. A back-country skier and member of the Swiss alpine club, she will be bringing her two-year-old border collie Bozak with her to Vancouver later this year.

Pascal Spothelfer, chair of the VO board of directors, said in a news release that Gaynor was the kind of leader the organization needs to move to the new festival format.

“She understands the Canadian cultural context, has gained tremendous international experience and brings the strategic and operational skills to lead Vancouver Opera into a very exciting future,” he said in the release.

By moving to a festival format, VO expects to be able to reduce its operating budget from $10 million to $9 million a year. Moving one production to The Playhouse from the Queen Elizabeth Theatre can save the company as much as $500,000.

Comments

We encourage all readers to share their views on our articles and blog posts. We are committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion, so we ask you to avoid personal attacks, and please keep your comments relevant and respectful. If you encounter a comment that is abusive, click the "X" in the upper right corner of the comment box to report spam or abuse. We are using Facebook commenting. Visit our FAQ page for more information.

Share

Vancouver Opera’s new leader supports festival format

Video

Today's Headline Videos

Best of Postmedia

To steel himself for the year-long journey that began Wednesday, Jonathan Pitre has been going over the hard calculus that underpins his decision to pursue a high-risk, high-reward treatment in Minnesota

When he woke up in tears the morning after he had cried himself to sleep, Rohit Saxena knew what he had to do. Leaving his wife, Lesley, asleep in bed, Rohit went downstairs, opened his laptop and began to write. “They say your kids are your hearts outside your body,” he wrote. “I’ll always be […]

Almost Done!

Postmedia wants to improve your reading experience as well as share the best deals and promotions from our advertisers with you. The information below will be used to optimize the content and make ads across the network more relevant to you. You can always change the information you share with us by editing your profile.

By clicking "Create Account", I hearby grant permission to Postmedia to use my account information to create my account.

I also accept and agree to be bound by Postmedia's Terms and Conditions with respect to my use of the Site and I have read and understand Postmedia's Privacy Statement. I consent to the collection, use, maintenance, and disclosure of my information in accordance with the Postmedia's Privacy Policy.

Postmedia wants to improve your reading experience as well as share the best deals and promotions from our advertisers with you. The information below will be used to optimize the content and make ads across the network more relevant to you. You can always change the information you share with us by editing your profile.

By clicking "Create Account", I hearby grant permission to Postmedia to use my account information to create my account.

I also accept and agree to be bound by Postmedia's Terms and Conditions with respect to my use of the Site and I have read and understand Postmedia's Privacy Statement. I consent to the collection, use, maintenance, and disclosure of my information in accordance with the Postmedia's Privacy Policy.